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Native America Calling: Rebecca Nagle’s ‘First America’ amplifies Native voices amid the din of America 250 celebrations
Monday, June 22, 2026
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Rebecca Nagle’s ‘First America’ amplifies Native voices amid the din of America 250 celebrations
The Declaration of Independence infamously contains the phrase “merciless Indian savages” — an indication of just where Native Americans fit into this year’s celebration of the founding document’s 250th anniversary celebrations.

For much of that time, the federal government, colonial historians, and the general public have fetishized a version of Native culture, all while working to extinguish that culture from continued existence. Acclaimed Cherokee journalist Rebecca Nagle takes on the semiquincentennial from the Native perspective in her new six-part podcast, “First America.”

Nagle is also the creator of the “This Land” podcast which earned a Peabody Award nomination and won the 2020 American Mosaic Journalism Prize. And she wrote the national best-selling book, “By the Fire We Carry.”

Tune in to hear from Nagle and some of the historians and academics who provided insights on the Native influences on early democracy and the uneasy balance between Native people and America ever since.

'Merciless Indian Savages'
The Declaration of Independence refers to Native people as “merciless Indian savages.” Graphic by Mark Charles / Wireless Hogan

Guests on Native America Calling
Rebecca Nagle (Cherokee), creator and host of the “First America” podcast; author of “By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land”; and creator of “This Land” podcast

Philip Deloria (Yankton Dakota), professor of history at Harvard University in Massachusetts

Dr. Nick Estes (Lower Brule Sioux Tribe), associate professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota

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